Kenya police say suspected extremists hit 2 buses, killing 4

Kenya police say four people have been killed on Thursday in two ambushes in which passenger buses were fired on by gunmen suspected to be Islamic extremists in the country's eastern coastal area.

In the first attack, three men were killed when a bus was sprayed with gunfire by attackers in the Nyongoro area of Lamu county along Kenya's Indian Ocean coast.

A police report seen by the Associated Press said that when the suspected extremists opened fire three passengers were shot at close range and died instantly. It said two other passengers were wounded.

A second police report said there was another attack Thursday on a bus in a nearby area in which the conductor was killed. The second attack occurred in the same area on a Simba bus heading from the eastern port of Mombasa to Lamu county.

Mombasa county Governor Ali Hassan Joho said condemned the attack. "This is unacceptable in this day and age. We have no choice but to be accommodating and tolerant to one another," he said in a tweet.

In recent weeks, ahead of the New Year, Somalia's al-Shabab rebels have stepped up attacks in Kenya whose troops are in Somalia fighting the extremists. The militants have vowed retribution on Kenya for its troop presence in Somalia.